:Author’s Note:

What the heck, I had been writing fanfics?!

Excuse my memory lapse, dear readers. Ayame is getting old (TT..TT) at the young age of 14. (Where has my youth gone?)

Forgive me for updating so horribly late. I ought to be shot for procrastinating, but I promise to pick up the pace this summer, while I manage to get away from Frndstr for a bit.

Again thank you for reading, and more thanks to those who reviewed. My love goes out to you guys who browse as well.

(TToTT) — (Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Last Exile. I don’t even own the DVD. Cry.)

Coffee for the Captain

:……o..O..o……:

With a few good friends,

And a sip or two of finely brewed coffee on a rainy day…

To the Captain, it wasn’t too bad.

:……o..O..o……:

Chapter 9: ‘Rivalry’s Finest’

“More beautiful.”

Vincent’s ears twitched.

Hazel eyes snapped to the Captain of the ship as Alex slipped and his quiet thoughts were inadvertently voiced.

“…That’s why an Admiral like you should be courteous, polite and such,” Sophia continued, but stopped when the man she was gently chiding directed his attention to the Captain behind her. “Vince—”

“Did you say something, Alex?” Vincent asked, Sophia’s last words eluding him. He spoke in an innocent tone, yet his hazel eyes seemed to pierce through Alex’s distant blue-gray ones.

No reply.

“I’m sure I heard something,” Vincent insists. Receiving no response from the Captain, he decided he needed to press Alex a little bit more if he wanted to get answers out of his taciturn friend… “Really,” he turned to Sophia for emphasis. “It was something…” He snuck a quick glance at Alex, who now had his complete attention on the Admiral. “…Something…along the lines of ‘More b—’ ”

“I said nothing.”

Alex’s interruption was quick, icy, and firm.

“Therefore,” he continued coldly, “you heard nothing.”

To Vincent, it seemed that Alex made damn sure to make sound blasé, what was in fact a subtle threat.

The Admiral never responds well to threats, but whenever the deadly warning came from Alex, it would surely spell death for him if he chose to ignore it. “Well, if you say so,” Vincent decided on an enigmatic tone, “then I believe you.”

Alex didn’t like the knowing sparkle in the Admiral’s eye, nor the mysterious smile that cut through his lips. It was the only smile that Alex didn’t know how to interpret, and it bothered him, not knowing what was on Vincent Alzey’s mind.

The Admiral may act foolish, but he was as sure as hell not a fool.

Vincent actually had a mind of genius, a body of cunning, a command of power, guts of steel, and instincts of the finest, and he skillfully put them to expert use as he worked his way from Ensign to Admiral.

And, aside from Sophia, that was what made them rivals—Rivals as competitive as Day and Night. Their complete respect was in each other, and no matter how idiotic or cold they act, the rivalry persists, never-ending as they attempt to rise higher than the other, higher and higher and higher….

…Until they are able to spread their wings and fly out on their own to conquer the skies, whether face-to-face as enemies or side-by-side as friends, the rivalry persists, at its finest color and form.

They would not have it any other way.

…-”oOo“-…

Quite short, hmm? (Well, so were your reviews.)

I don’t mean to be rude, but your reviews, which is 99 percent of my motivation, had been AWOL for some time, just like me.

Let’s all hope for their return.

.:Ayame Harushino:.

Next Chapter:

The Admiral’s feelings are the Admiral’s weakness.

Hell will be brought upon the fool who crushes the heart of his Queen—Vincent Alzey would make damn sure of that.

Still, he hopes…to find…something…

‘Into A New Sky’